6/23/08

I love any kind of dessert or sweet treat with strawberries in it. When strawberries are in season I make special trips to Whole Foods just to buy their organic strawberries. The Whole Foods I go to (in Hingham, MA) has from the end of May, to end of June these giant, organic sweet strawberries from Driscoll. In my opinion they are the sweetest strawberries ever; known for having the very best color, taste, and texture. Driscoll farmers have one of the best reputations for producing the very best crop of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.. Look for the Driscoll name next time you grocery shop, I bet you'll notice a difference in taste; sweeter, juicier and by far way more appealing.
So, when I'm at Whole Foods I always buy three container of strawberries, two to take home, and one to eat on the way home. With one of the batches of strawberries I made this delicious little dessert treat. These bars taste really, really good with vanilla ice cream on top.

For the puree, in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat cook strawberries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Stir frequently until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Let it cool for an hour or longer; it will thicken over time.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and pecans, then stir in the butter and egg until mixture is crumbly, like coarse and wet sand.
Put a half the layer of the crumb mixture on the bottom of pan, make sure to press it in good and get all the corners. Recipe by dawn finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com Then add the strawberry filling, and then put remaining mixture on top; placing it as chunks or lumps.
Put the mixture on loosely, and evenly, No need to press down on this, we want it thick and airy like a crumb cake topping.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cool bars in the pan before slicing. The jam filling is hot, please let it cool.
Makes 12 bars.

Your recipes look and sound amazing. I am a foodie too. I love baking and cooking. I love changing and mixing recipes to see what I can come up with. I tried your giant chocolate chip cookie recipe....AWESOME!! My kids did flips. I just have to tell you that you have inspired me.

We've been getting the most amazing strawberries from the farmers' market for the past two weeks. I always mean to bake something, but by the time my husband and I have nibbled a few, then a few more, there are no more left!

Those bars look really good! Unfortunately, they're too high in carbs for me to eat but I can dream. :) However, I did want to let you know that recently I got some Driscoll strawberries that weren't good at all. That was the only time that's happened to me and I was so disappointed. I emailed Driscoll and they sent me a nice letter and 4 coupons for $1 to $3 off their berries. I was pleased to receive such good customer service. I haven't gotten more berries yet but will. When I do maybe I'll make a 'diabetic friendly' version of your bar.

I just used your recipe yesterday with strawberries that were about to become bad, they are delicious! It tastes like a mini strawberry crumb pie! I just wanted to say thanks for such an awesome recipe!

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com